Marley role caps lifelong love of 'A Christmas Carol'
George Keating is one of the stalwarts of Chicago's music theater scene. He is currently playing the ghost of Jacob Marley in Marriott Theatre's production of "A Christmas Carol, The Musical," but in the past he has performed in shows as different as "Schoolhouse Rock Live!" and "The Petrified Forest," "The Good War" and "Seussical the Musical."
He loves performing, and has loved it since he was a kid growing up in Pittsburgh. It helped that his family loved theater, and that his parents supported him when it was clear he was drawn to the stage.
"My father was a practical man," Keating says. "He was an electrical engineer, but he loved the arts. And when he saw I wanted to be an actor he told me, 'OK, if you are going to do this, you are going to do this right.'"
So his father helped Keating research theater schools and drove him to Chicago to audition at DePaul University, one of the top programs in the country.
"I am grateful for all that," Keating says. "I'm not going to say it was always easy making it as an actor, but I credit my father with helping me figure out how to make a career as an actor."
His current role has him playing the ghost of Marley, Scrooge's former business partner, for Marriott's children's theater.
"I love playing Marley," Keating says. "He has a very personal connection to Scrooge. His thing is: 'I have to come here to save you. I knew you, Scrooge, we were partners, and I want to save you.'"
Despite this positive message, Marley is a dark and troubling presence in the play. Wrapped in chains and weighted down with cash boxes, he usually howls like the ghost he is when he clanks into Scrooge's life.
"I was going to play Marley as very tortured and very weighted down," Keating says. "And then I put on Nancy Missimi's costume for Marley. It is very amazing but also very scary. And Rachel Rockwell told me, 'Now that you are very, very scary, you need to tone it down a bit.'"
The Marriott production, after all, is geared for children. And it won't do to scare them too much.
"I have been fascinated by this story for years," Keating says. "I mean since I was a kid. I have seen most of the ones that are available on videos. And there are so many versions of it. I actually would read the novella every year when I was in school."
But as a budding actor, it was never enough just to watch or read the story.
"You know what I used to do?" Keating says. "I used to write my own versions of 'A Christmas Carol.' I made several of them between 8 and 10. And I would perform them for my stuffed animals."
His childhood fascination has paid off. "I did the 'Scrooge' (musical) tour with Richard Chamberlain in 2004," Keating says. "I played Tom Jenkins. In that version Jenkins is like a rabble rouser among the townspeople. He gets to sing that great song, 'Thank You Very Much.'"
And now Keating gets to play the ghost of Marley, a role he feels he has been preparing for all his life.
"The ghosts have always been part of the draw for me," he says. "I don't know if it's my Irish heritage. My mother has always had that spiritual belief. My mother taught me that there are ghosts. We had a haunted rocker at our house. My mother would say, 'if someone comes to you if they are dead, don't be scared. They might have something to tell you.' I think even as a young child I found that compelling.
"But you know," Keating adds, "I have always been a sucker for a story where the cranky guy goes good."
Who knows, next time around maybe Keating will get to play the old guy himself. And I don't mean Santa Claus.
• "A Christmas Carol, The Musical" runs through Jan. 2 at Marriott Theatre, 10 Marriott Drive, Lincolnshire. For tickets and information, call (847) 634-0200 or visit marriotttheatre.com.